Decolonized thoughts of an Algerian female blogger

In Algeria, the Minister of national education doesn’t speak Arabic : the national and official language of Algeria. Yes, it is unbelievable. Mrs Benghabrit, is a francophone who cannot speak correctly arabic, and who admits on TV that she would not make any effort to learn it because… she has no time. This unbelievable and grotesque situation speaks volume and reflects perfectly the power of the francophone lobby who hijacked the education board in Algeria.

Last month, this francophone Minister has triggered a violent controversy over the decision to introduce the colloquial Arabic in primary school to teach… standard Arabic language. This silly and anti-pedagogical decision is supposed to help Algerian children become accustomed to Arabic … so they would not be shocked…emotionally. Of course this measure would not apply to the teaching of french language at primary school because, according to these francophones, french language and despite being a foreign language in Algeria, cannot cause any emotional shock to little Algerians. This biased and openly arabophobe vision doesn’t make any sense, but it does perfectly fit the “colonisé” state of mind of the francophone lobby.

No need to say that this statement has provoked an uproar within the Algerian society expressing dismay and anger. This decision to teach Arabic language using nonstandard dialect is denounced by many teachers, and education specialists as well as writers and intellectuals who voiced their rejection of this decision. Defenders of Arabic language such as Dr Bennaamane consider this decision a threat to national unity and denounces it as another way to recycle an old colonial project.

During colonization of Algeria from 1830 to 1962, colonial France has banned the teaching of Arabic from school and tried to replace it with colloquial non-standard Arabic dialect, without success. Algerian nationalists, at that time, knew perfectly that this project had for sole purpose the weakening of Arabic language. French colonial administration was seeking to promote the french as the national language to better acculturate Algerian people and program their cultural amnesia. It is indeed such a disgrace to see, fifty years after independence, Algerian intellectuals militating to rehabilitate…this old colonial project.

The story would not be complete though, without exposing the role played by the Diocesan cultural centre of Algiers in the revival of this old colonial project. Last April, this centre held a conference to promote the idea that Derja is not just a dialect but a language per se…Actually, Derja is already taught as a language at the Diocesan centre following a teaching method called kamel developed by researchers from …the french university of Rennes 2.

Et voilà! The old colonial project to weaken Arabic language is ready. It is clad in a deceitful project to promote Derja as an Algerian language…all it needs to be implemented on the ground…are useful francophone Algerian idiots.